1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inner cutter for a reciprocating electric shaver and a reciprocating electric shaver that uses such an inner cutter.
2. Prior Art
A conventional inner cutter for a reciprocating electric shaver will be described first.
The overall structure of an ordinary reciprocating electric shaver will be described with reference to FIG. 19.
The electric shaver 10 is comprised of: a mesh-form outer cutter 12 which is formed using a thin metal plate and has openings in the form of eyes of mesh, a holding frame 14 which holds this outer cutter 12 in a bent state, an inner cutter 16 which shaves whiskers by performing a reciprocating motion while contacting the inner surface of the outer cutter 12, a main body case 24 which contains therein a power supply (a battery in this example) 18 and an electric motor 20 and which has an on-off switch 22 provided on its outer surface, and a driving mechanism 28 which is disposed on the upper surface of the main body case 24 and causes the inner cutter 16 to make a reciprocating motion by converting the rotational motion of the output shaft 26 of the electric motor 20 into a linear motion. The holding frame 14 is removably attached to the upper surface of the main body case 24, and it covers the inner cutter 16 while bending and holding the outer cutter 12. The attachment and detachment mechanism for this holding frame 14 is obtained from, for example, hooks 30 installed on both side surfaces of the holding frame 14 so that they are engaged with engaging grooves 32 formed in both sides of the upper surface of the main body case 24.
Next, the structure of the inner cutter 16 will be described in detail.
The inner cutter 16 consists of a pair of supporting wall sections 16a, which are disposed so as to face each other, and a plurality of small cutters 16b,which have an inverted U cross-sectional shape and are disposed side by side along the direction of length of the supporting wall sections 16a between the upper ends of the supporting wall sections 16a.
The inner cutter 16 is manufactured by, for instance, the following manner: a metal plate is bent into an inverted U cross-sectional shape, and a plurality of slits 16c which cut across the direction of length A of the bent portion B of the metal plate are formed at intervals in this bent portion B. The areas with an inverted U shape that remain in the bent portion B after such a cutting form the small cutters 16b. Also, a pair of extended portions C positioned at the bent tip ends of the metal plate, i. e, the portions other than the bent portion, form a pair of supporting wall sections 16a that face each other.
To the pair of supporting wall sections 16a of the inner cutter 16, connecting pins 34, a connecting block 40, etc. are attached, so that the pair of supporting wall sections 16a are connected to each other. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 19, the connecting pins 34 are attached to the pair of supporting wall sections 16a of the inner cutter 16 so as to maintain the shape of the inner cutter 16 as an inverted U cross-sectional shape. Also, as shown in FIG. 20, the connecting block 40 is made of a synthetic resin and has a slit 38 formed in its lower surface so that the slit 38 engages an eccentric pin 36 which is coupled to the output shaft 26 of the electric motor 20 and forms a part of the driving mechanism 28.
However, the following problems arise in the above-described conventional inner cutter for a reciprocating electric shaver:
The shaved whiskers enter the interior of the inverted-U-shaped inner cutter 16 and accumulate on the upper surface of the main body case 24.
When these whiskers are to be cleaned away, the whiskers that have accumulated on the upper surface of the main body case 24 must be swept away by a brush, etc. In addition, since whiskers also adhere to the inner surfaces of the inner cutter 16, i. e., they adhere to the inner surfaces of the small cutters 16b and to the facing inner surfaces of the pair of supporting wall sections 16a, these adhering whiskers must be swept away by a brush.
However, the above-described connecting pins 34 and connecting block 40 attached between the pair of supporting wall sections 16a of the inner cutter 16 constitute an obstacle, and the brush cannot be moved along the supporting wall sections 16a. Accordingly, cleaning of the inner surfaces of the small cutters 16b and the facing inner surfaces of the pair of supporting wall sections 16a by a brush is difficult, and considerable time is required for such cleaning.